Raising 12 Day Old Puppies - Page 1

How often would 12 day old pups need to nurse? And what temperature should I keep the room at? Looks like nursing shifts with mom will have to be carefully managed as 2 pups have disappeared in the last few days.  

The pups are so big and fat now, at first we couldn't believe she'd do this. That allowed pup #2 to also dissappear.  The owner was trying to blame my GSDs. I was pretty sure they were innocent, plus I just couldn't believe she'd be able to eat one of her own, and not leave any evidence behind other than a small bloodstain which I thought was from her post-partum discharge.

Well, I've been super, super careful about keeping the door to the room and the puppy cage closed, plus there were quite a few bloodstains on the bedding this morning as well as a small tuft of fur. 

 

Is she stressed? I could understand at a few days, but almost 2 weeks? 

She is in a wire crate with the pups. She goes out in the kennel 3x a day for 1-2 hours each time, and is allowed outside to poop and pee and play with 2 other females of the same breed.

She barks and gets upset when she hears my dogs near the door to the room, but other than that, I don't think there's much that can stress her.

The night the first pup disappeared, she pooped in the cage, a very large poop, and got it all over the bedding. That might have stressed her. Also, it probably isn't ideal for her to be in the same cage as the pups rather than having them in a whelping box. Unfortunately, the room is too small for a whelping box, and I can't keep the kennel warm enough for newborns. The sliding doors leak cold air, and the electrical supply is pushed to its limits at this time of year, so I can't provide enough supplementary heat to keep the young'uns warm. It would trip a breaker, then EVERYONE would freeze!

As of now, she's going to stay in the kennel, until I bring her in to nurse the pups. I can't give her the run of my house, as she is NOT housebroken. She's always been a kennel dog.

This is her first litter, and she did very well with the whelping. She birthed the first 3 on her own without help. I assisted with the other 2 which was fortunate, as # 4 must have inhaled a lot of amniotic fluid and was having a very hard time breathing, and #5 was born tail first.

She's getting about 6 cups of kibble a day, in 3 feedings, so she's definitely not starving. When I pick her up, she's quite the armful!

I'm not understanding how a dog pooping in her whelping box causes her to be so stressed that she eats her puppies.
I can see how her being upset about other dogs near her and the pups may be stressful.
Hope others on here can help you with your questions. Good luck, keep us posted!

Well... I don't know exactly the answer to your question, but I would manage her and the pups a bit differently.

Do you have a 4x8 or 10x10 kennel area that is away from other dogs and lots of coming and going? If so, set the pups up in a subsection of that area so she doesn't have to be in exactly the same area with them. I think that the wire crate is just too small an area to confine her with the pups.

My females at 12 days are with the pups all day except for a number of short trips outside to go to the bathroom. A 2 hour break at that age is really too long, IMO.

BUT... if these things aren't possible...

Pups need to be kept warm--I prefer heating pads that cover only part of the floor, so pups can move on or off the pad to self regulate. If you keep the room around 75 degrees (F), a heating pad should provide sufficient warmth. If they are always huddled up, the environment is too cold.

Pups should eat at least every 2 hours at this point. This is incredibly wearing if you can't leave mom in with them, but you can probably start introducing them to licking up small amounts of formula within a few days and can definitely start feeding them at 3 weeks--small amounts twice a day at first, increasing to up to 4 x a day. I start pups with goat's milk and ground raw meat when possible around 3-3.5 weeks normally. However, if you're starting pups off earlier, I would try to find some goat's milk and mix it with whole fat yogurt and maybe a whole raw egg and a bit of molasses or corn syrup. I wouldn't introduce them to meat until over 3 weeks, and then I'd go slowly.

Good luck--this sounds like a very stressful situation for you and for momma dog. :(

Christine

Not the way to keep a bitch with pups. Not surprising she ate her pups. She rather eat them than let them be unprotected while she is 'playing with two other females'. No mother dog with pups not completely weaned should care a whip about 'playing with other females', while her puppies are 'unprotected' (in her mind) with other dogs running around barking. Also, a wire crate is not hospitable to a mother with new puppies...she is exposed on all sides and is essentially 'caged'. She is traumatized and is dealing with the stress the only way nature provides....eat the puppies before someone else does.

If you don't have a room big enough to have a whelping box, why are you whelping puppies? I can't imagine an adult GSD in a crate with a litter of puppies, its a wonder more haven't been crushed to death.
If she is barking and gets "upset" at the other dogs, why aren't you paying attention to her stressors?

-Joan, let me clarify;

Mom is in my spare bedroom with the pups. The cage door is closed, and the bedroom door is closed at all times. No other animals are allowed in.

When it's time for her to go outside, I put my dogs out first, then either carry her or have her walk beside me out to the kennel, where I let her out in one of the runs. When the pups were newborns, I brought her in after about 15 or 20 minutes, and she was in the run alone. Other dogs were on the other side of the fence.

Now they are a little older, she's out for longer, and due to the number of dogs being boarded, I am letting her out in a shared run with 2 other females from the same owner.

And yes, this is stressful. I am trying to get ready to move on the 15th of the month! :(

Where the poop was concerned, I thought she might have gotten carried away in her efforts to clean the cage up.

joanro is spot on here.....sorry but this is definately bad management of a bitch with newborns.  a quiet relaxed place of her own with her pups and no contact with other dogs at this time is paramount.   she has been put under stress and has reacted the only way she knows how to 'protect' her offspring.   she will regard other dogs nearby as predators to her babies....just as joanro has pointed out.   

Letting her out with boarding dogs?!?
Jesus.